Something to Hope For
by water wolf 100
Summary: No matter how much they hurt him, the Doctor will never stop loving the human race.


**Hey there! Guess who!? I know many people have missed my work on here, almost as much as I have missed writing it. So I've decided to come out of retirement. This is to celebrate! Enjoy! ~Wolfie**

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Something to Hope For

High above the Earth a lone figure looked out a window at the tiny planet below him. On board his magnificent ship, the Valiant, he felt like the king of the world. He chucked softly as he remembered that he was. Every sniveling, cowering, pathetic human was under his control. To make it even better, the one being in the universe that could stop him was his unwilling guest.

"Comfortable, Doctor?" he asked, turning to face his long time enemy. The withered man before him locked eyes with his own. He sat tethered in a chair, not that he needed to be. His body was so deteriorated and weak that he barely had energy to speak. "I'll take your lack of protest as a yes."

"Master," the Doctor whispered, "please think about it. It's not too late to reconsider." A wicked grin grew across the Master's face, giving his handsome features a much more sinister demeanor.

"Reconsider what, Doctor? I'm just doing what I was born to do. Every moment of my existence has led me to where I am now. And nothing is going to change that. It's destiny!" He sat in the chair across from the Doctor, the grin still tugging at his lips. He fell silent and began to tap out the ever present beat in his mind. One-two-three-four, one-two-three-four, the drums told him so much. If it wasn't for the drumming, he would have never know just what he was capable of. Without the drums leading him to his destiny he would have been just like every other high and mighty Time Lord he knew.

The Master scoffed. The Time Lords all thought not interfering with the universe would keep things balanced. How wrong they were. Bestowing his wisdom and power on the lesser beings of the Earth was the best thing that he could have ever done for them. They needed someone like him to take care of them, to guide and mold them. It was like he was their father. Then, when the time was right he would send his children out into the universe to expand his control.

"I know what you're thinking," the Doctor hissed out. "The look in your eyes tells me. And you're wrong. They'll find a way out. The humans deserve more credit than what you give them. They always find a way to keep on going, keep on surviving."

As the Doctor finished his little speech the Master stood from his chair. He looked to the two men guarding the door and spat, "Get out, both of you. No one is to enter this room until I say so." With curt nods the soldiers slipped out the door. The Master and the Doctor were alone.

As he circled the Doctor's chair, the Master thought of all the ways he could show him how wrong he really was. "The human race is filled with cowards and traitors. I know you've seen what harm they can do, the suffering they can cause."

"With the bad, comes the good."

"Admit it Doctor." The Master leaned in, right next to the Doctor's face, "Every human you have ever met has let you down in some way. They're only capable of being selfish and greedy."

"No, no that's not true. So many of them are…"

"Maybe you are just having some trouble remembering. Here, let me help you with that." The Master placed his hands on either side of the Doctor's temples. He forced himself into his memories, having every intention of digging up every single painful memory. "Now where to start? Oh, this is a good one!" With no effort at all he surfaced a buried memory, one from long ago.

In the Doctor's mind he saw a young woman. Her short, curly hair gave her a sharp appearance. The name Tegan entered his thoughts. He remembered her vaguely. They were surrounded by destruction and death. A war had been fought. Tegan's eyes filled with tears as she told the Doctor that she couldn't go on any more. She couldn't take the fighting and the death. With a sob she turned and ran from the Doctor, leaving him calling after her.

The memory dissolved to a new one. A fiery young woman called Ace, bitterly refused to travel with the Doctor. She left him in anger, and went to continue with her life. The Doctor knew she blamed him for what had happened on the planet called Heaven.

As the memories continued on the Doctor choked back sobs. His companions, his friends, in some way they had all left him. Many of them by choice, because they couldn't take the life he lived.

"Do you see, Doctor?" Selfish creatures. They blame you for everything they suffer through, then leave you. They try to move on while you are left to remember all alone." The Master chuckled and looked onto the face of the Doctor. Stray tears slid down his wrinkled cheeks. This was the Oncoming Storm. A weak, weeping old man. Seeing how broken the Doctor was made the Master practically giddy.

"I don't blame them. I never did, no matter how much I wanted to. The mind can only take so much before it breaks. It isn't their fault. Humans may run away easily, but they have so much to offer; endless love, unending desire to learn, innate ability to keep on surviving." The Doctor held his head a little higher, looking the Master in the eyes, "They possess the one thing in the universe that makes them nearly invincible. They have hope. Hope for a better tomorrow, hope for life and love. I admire that. It's why I'll always love the human race; no matter their faults. So keep digging through my memories, because you will find more hope in there than anything else."

Taken aback the Master removed his hands from the Doctor's temples. This hadn't been the reaction he was expecting. He was more determined than ever to find the one person that broke his hope in humans. With a new determination the Master returned to the mind of the Doctor.

There was a boy called Adam. One who abused the function of the TARDIS for his own personal gain. So typical of humans. His time on the TARDIS was brief. The Doctor was many things, but he was not tolerant of those who abused the power of time.

There was one final companion in the Doctor's memories. Quickly the Master realized that this one was different. She stood by the Doctor's side, never backing down, never showing fear. She stood eye to eye with Daleks, Cybermen, and so many others. This girl looked into the heart of the TARDIS, taking on its power, just to save the Doctor thousands of years in her own future.

As the Master looked into this woman he heard one word repeated. It was a word she promised to the Doctor so many times. Forever. She swore to him that she would stay with him forever, even after he regenerated in front of her, with no warning or explanation. There was no denying that this girl, this strange little human, loved the Doctor. Then where was she now?

That's when the Master saw it. The rift. He knew what it was as soon as he saw it. He saw her refusing to be left on the other side of it, giving up her family to stay with the Doctor. Then he saw as she was ripped from him, to be locked on the other side forever. She didn't leave him. She was taken.

"I told you," the Doctor whispered, breaking the Master's concentration. "Humans care capable of so much. Just look for yourself." Focusing his memories he showed the Master all the good humans have done. All of their sacrifices for him, all of the kindness they showed, all of the potential they had. Memory after memory flooded the Master's mind.

Martha was in those memories as well, the girl who now traveled with the Doctor. She was somewhere on Earth. The Master thought at first that she was hiding in fear, but now he could see that she was working to save not only the Doctor, but the entire world.

"This is why you won't win, Master. The humans won't be held down for long. They will fight back, because they have something worth fighting for." With one final push, the Doctor removed the Master from his mind.

Fury filling his eyes the Master rasped with a snarl, "Then I will take away everything they would ever fight for." He turned from the Doctor and left the room. As the door shut, the Doctor let down the barriers of his mind. Holding them up had drained him, but he could not let the Master see his innermost memories. There had been a time when he lost faith in not only the humans, but in all of creation. It was a time when he looked at all life as being only self-interested and uncaring.

Then he met a human who changed all of that in him; one ordinary teenager who saved his life. One ordinary, pink and yellow, teen that managed to restore his hope. And now it was his turn to spread it out to the rest of the planet. It was time for the world to start hoping once again.


End file.
